1000462 - update https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-does-phishing-and-malware-protection-work for application reputation

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(support.mozilla.org :: Knowledge Base Software, task)

Description

[[:mmc] Monica Chew (no longer reading bugmail)]

Text can be some version of

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Features/Application_Reputation_Design_Doc#How_to_turn_off_this_feature

Comment 1

[[:mmc] Monica Chew (no longer reading bugmail)]

Hey Joni,

Could you help find an owner for this? It is released in FF 31. We blogged about it at

https://blog.mozilla.org/security/2014/07/23/improving-malware-detection-in-firefox/
http://monica-at-mozilla.blogspot.com/2014/07/download-files-more-safely-with-firefox.html (includes screenshots)

Thanks,
Monica

Comment 2

[Safwan Rahman (:safwan)]

Hi Monica,
Can you please describe, what should be added? need to add the turning off method?

Regards

Comment 3

[[:mmc] Monica Chew (no longer reading bugmail)]

Hi Safwan,

The first para of https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-does-phishing-and-malware-protection-work needs a minor update, perhaps "This feature also warns you if you download files that are detected as malware."

The "How does Phishing and Malware detection work" paragraph needs to include a summary of the description from https://blog.mozilla.org/security/2014/07/23/improving-malware-detection-in-firefox/:

When you download an application file, Firefox will verify the signature. If it is signed, Firefox then compares the signature with a list of known safe publishers. For files that are not identified by the lists as “safe” (allowed) or as “malware” (blocked), Firefox asks Google’s Safe Browsing service if the software is safe by sending it some of the download’s metadata. Note this online check will only be performed in Firefox on Windows for those downloaded files that don’t have a known good publisher. Most of the common and safe software for Windows is signed and so this final check won’t always need to happen.

It would also be useful to include a screenshot (https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/IxilTGpJVMymjE5MJoCyjdKxfPzEZf_7I84mIOIkqhn0F3yspTMaQZkVLdvi7MGLqZBLpCFXYsWQKqLQsIr5li__F1LcvyeLy6SsLxkEiw_nb1Kr3gV3ZAnFlG1uab4QQw) of what happens when a downloaded file is detected as malware in the "How do I use the Phishing and Malware Protection features?" In addition, this paragraph doesn't actually include the settings that control phishing and malware detection. They are "Block reported web forgeries" and "Block reported attack sites" respectively.

It also needs to add a paragraph about turning the feature off. See https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/OK_kLU0JIsmFIeWZ7p3z6a1z9bpKLg6VGmBXhfA_EV6gk7rrO0gZ9iyqq4uqyNcAuExrPG6VPf7ZzIcRDc52Ahtc6AMWTUeWiHx2fe9gk2gOw6P4yQkfN-Jg-_qjzvmkUg for how that looks.

Thanks,
Monica

Comment 4

[Joni Chan]

Hi Monica,

You've found the right owner, although anyone's welcome to edit the articles since it's a wiki.

I've added the changes to the article: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-does-phishing-and-malware-protection-work. Please let me know if it's missing anything else or if you have other suggestions.

Comment 5

[[:mmc] Monica Chew (no longer reading bugmail)]

Thank you Joni! Next time I will know :)